How to Speak Royai
by gunsandflames
Summary: For dummies. (one-shot, young royai)


**Hey guys! This is my second royai fic! It's based on a headcanon I submitted to littleroyaithings on Tumblr. Anyways, enjoy!**

**And special thanks to Seriadne for beta-ing this for me! You are super awesome!**

Roy Mustang looked up from the alchemy books on his desk when he heard the front door open. Four o'clock. Riza Hawkeye, the master's daughter, was home from school.

He turned in his chair to watch her as she walked in. Her shoulders slumped forward and she crossed her arms. She then closed her eyes and leaned against the door behind her taking in a deep breath. It had been another bad day at school. Her classmates had been taunting her, saying she was the daughter of 'the crazy alchemist.' While she was getting use to the name calling, it still hurt.

Seeing her like this, Roy wanted to say something to her, but for some reason he couldn't. It was like his throat had suddenly gone dry. He opened his mouth to attempt to speak, but suddenly, her eyes opened with a hardened look of determination. _I will_ not_ let anyone see me like this_ she resolved_._ And with that thought, she started walking down the hallway towards her room.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. It was a question Roy had been wanting to ask her for weeks now but never had the courage. Only now did he allow himself to finally ask. This wasn't the first time he had seen her looking like this. When she thought know one else was watching she would space out or look troubled.

She froze. "Huh?" she asked over her shoulder, looking both startled and confused. He had expected her to react like this.

"I just want to know if you're okay. I don't know what exactly it is, but I can tell something's not quite right." He paused waiting for her to respond. "So, are you okay?"

She smiled at him but he could recognize that the action was not genuine. "Of course I am. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Mustang." With that, she turned and continued down the hallway. He thought about stopping her again, but also realized it wouldn't do any good.

_How do I help her if I don't know what's wrong?_

_So step one, _he thought to himself, _find out what's wrong. _He thought briefly of ways he could find out about her by asking her friends or teachers, but he quickly rejected those ideas. _It needs to come from her. _

That's when it hit him. What if they had some other way of communicating so she could tell him what was wrong without really saying it? A hand signal? A secret code, maybe? A code, perfect. Roy tossed aside his alchemy books and flipped to a clean sheet of notebook paper as he touched his pencil to his chin in thought.

~P~

Riza was sitting at her desk in her room finishing up her homework when she heard quiet, urgent knocking at her door. She frowned before standing up and walking towards the door to open it.

"Mr. Mustang? What can I help you with?"

"I want to show you something!" he announced excitedly. "Can I come in?"

She looked briefly around her room, checking for anything that she might not want him to see before stepping out of his way with a sigh. She was startled when he closed the door behind him.

"What are you -"

"I want to show you a secret code," he interrupted her.

"What? Why?"

"So we can communicate without anyone else knowing." She just stared at him for a moment, confused at how he had come up with this idea in the first place. He noticed her silence and tried to read her thoughts. "Look, I'm just worried about you is all. I want you to know that you can tell me anything. And here's a way you can without anyone knowing. And I can tell you things too. Trust me, it's really easy. Plus it'll be fun! What do you say? Please? _Please?_"

It was very rare that Riza ever smiled, but slowly one corner of her lip rose in a smirk. But as soon as it was there, it disappeared. "Fine, but I need to finish my homework first."

Following her gaze, he walked over to her desk and looked at the sheet of paper. "Chemistry, huh?" he said, looking over the sheet. With a grin, he picked up her pencil and quickly wrote in the answers to the last two problems. "Done! Okay so here's how the code works." She rolled her eyes but let him continue. "Anything you want to tell me, spell it out in names."

"Huh?"

He paused, trying to find the words to explain his system. "For example, if I wanted to say the word, uh, bed, I might say, 'When Berthold sent me to the market, I ran into Edward and Dante.' Get it?"

"Who are Edward and Dante?"

"No one! I just made them up, but no one else listening has to know that. You'll just hear the word 'bed'. Berthold, Edward, and Dante: Bed."

"Well, what if Berthold really did send me to the market and I actually did run into two people named Edward and Dante? Then what?"

Roy furrowed his eyebrows in thought. She had a valid point, and it was just like her to notice small but important details like this. After a moment, he came up with a solution. "Oh, I've got it! Whenever you want to use the code, start off by tapping twice. Like, tapping your foot twice, or knocking on a table or wall. And you can use two taps after when you're done speaking in code."

Riza raised an eyebrow at him. "This is getting awfully complicated, and frankly I don't even see the need for a system like this."

Instead of getting angry though, Roy just laughed. "It'll be fun, I promise. And who knows, maybe it'll come in handy one day." To this, Riza said nothing.

"Well anyway," Roy said as he took two loud steps towards the door, "Berthold told me Yuki and Ethan might come over sometime tomorrow."

She almost smiled at him then. "Goodnight to you too, Mr. Mustang."

"See? You're getting it," he said with a cheeky grin. "I'll see you tomorrow. " With one last smile at her, he closed the door, opened it slightly, and then closed it again, resulting in two distinct thuds.

_That idiot, _she thought. And in the privacy of her own room, she allowed herself to really smile.


End file.
